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AirTags and flying

ukms

ukms

macrumors demi-god
Original poster
Apr 21, 2015
1,160
1,201
Dubai, UAE
Will be interesting to see whether airlines allow AirTags in or on cabin or hold baggage.

Currently my airline of choice Emirates dont allow any 'smart bags' unless the lithium battery is removed. Other airlines have the same restrictions.

‘Smart’ or ‘innovative’ baggage includes bags with motors, power banks, GPS, GSM, Bluetooth, RFID or Wi‑Fi technology. There are restrictions on carrying smart bags with lithium batteries as both cabin and checked baggage on all our flights.

Please be aware that smart bags with built‑in batteries that can’t be removed are banned both as cabin and checked in baggage.

(the above snipped from emirates.com baggage policy)
 
Are tile trackers allowed and have been used for years? the tile website talks about using them on airplanes.
 
The other thing to consider is if the alarm will trigger on the airtags as it will be away from owners while being moved through the airport.
 
ukms said:
What alarm do you mean ?
Click to expand...

From Apple:

AirTag is designed to discourage unwanted tracking. If someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your stuff, your iPhone will notice it’s travelling with you and send you an alert. After a while, if you still haven’t found it, the AirTag will start playing a sound to let you know it’s there.
Click to expand...

I'm just imaging the guy driving the buggy that transports the baggage to the plane with all this AirTags sirens going :D
 
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LiE_ said:
From Apple:



I'm just imaging the guy driving the buggy that transports the baggage to the plane with all this AirTags sirens going :D
Click to expand...
Interesting ! ....... its seems that this happens when separated 'over time' but doesnt actually say how long :)
 
That's specifically lithium batteries. The AirTags use alkaline batteries. Those are not, and as far as I'm aware have never been, banned from checked luggage.

From the TSA's website (emphasis theirs):

- Dry Cell Alkaline Batteries: Typical AA, AAA, C, D, 9-volt, button-sized cells, etc. Allowed in carry-on baggage in equipment or spares as well as in checked baggage.
Click to expand...
 
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LiE_ said:
The other thing to consider is if the alarm will trigger on the airtags as it will be away from owners while being moved through the airport.
Click to expand...


No, there's no way that Apple's going to make these start going off after mere hours. Imagine you leave you dog at home during the day and go to work, and the dog it running around the house "binging" like a wild animal.

This will obviously be days, not hours.
 
RimasM said:
Are you sure? I've thought all CR2032 are lithium 🤔
Click to expand...
They're alkaline, just like a regular AA battery is.
Howard2k said:
No, there's no way that Apple's going to make these start going off after mere hours. Imagine you leave you dog at home during the day and go to work, and the dog it running around the house "binging" like a wild animal.

This will obviously be days, not hours.
Click to expand...
According to John Gruber it's 3 days of being separated from the owner.
 
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_Spinn_ said:
Hopefully they are allowed. Luggage seems like the perfect use for them. It would make finding them at the baggage claim much easier.
Click to expand...
Yup. I'll share a use case that actually happened to me. Last month I flew to Detroit for a funeral with my wife and mother. My mother broke her hip back in December, so we requested wheel chair service for her. In addition I bruised my Achilles tendon two days before and had a pretty decent limp.

Needless to say, we were moving through the airports pretty slowly. So slow in fact that by the time we got to baggage claim in Detroit they had taken our bags off the conveyer and into the baggage office. Once we figured out where that was, our bags were somewhere among the literal 100+ bags in that tiny office, and the attendant was absolutely useless. Precision finding would have been absolutely perfect in this scenario. Even being able to activate a sound would have been helpful. In other words, AirTags would have been perfect.
 
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ukms said:
Interesting ! ....... its seems that this happens when separated 'over time' but doesnt actually say how long :)
Click to expand...
It's 3 days before it starts chirping when moved. Apple said they can and may decide to change that interval based on feedback.
 
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People are getting confused between two different issues when talking about alarms here.

There is the privacy alerts. These only happen if the airtag is away from its owner and is moving with someone else. In this case it doesn't start making a noise straight away, but will notify the person who it is following. They can make it make a noise to try to find it.

The most likely time that this could happen is the baggage driver, as has been mentioned, but I would be surprised if they are travelling with it for long enough for the alert (it hasn't been clarified yet, but I doubt it will be that quick). Even if it does then he will be well used to it after a while and will learn to ignore the notifications.

The other thing is that the tags will make a noise if they are away from the owner and are moved. I haven't been following the discussions regarding this very closely, but as discussed above I believe this is after 3 days.

I don't think this will be a major problem.
 
Last edited:
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KeithJenner said:
People are getting confused between two different issues when talking about alarms here.

There is the anti tracking alerts. These only happen if the airtag is away from its owner and is moving with someone else. In this case it doesn't start making a noise straight away, but will notify the person who it is following. They can make it make a noise to try to find it.

The most likely time that this could happen is the baggage driver, as has been mentioned, but I would be surprised if they are travelling with it for long enough for the alert (it hasn't been clarified yet, but I doubt it will be that quick). Even if it does then he will be well used to it after a while and will learn to ignore the notifications.

The other thing is that the tags will make a noise if they are away from the owner and are moved. I haven't been following the discussions regarding this very closely, but as discussed above I believe this is after 3 days.

I don't think this will be a major problem.
Click to expand...
We need a flowchart. AirTag near owner? (Yes/No), AirTag moving? (Yes/No), AirTag in Lost mode (Yes/No), etc...
 
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seinman said:
That's specifically lithium batteries. The AirTags use alkaline batteries. Those are not, and as far as I'm aware have never been, banned from checked luggage.

From the TSA's website (emphasis theirs):
Click to expand...
I think you might find the issue relates to …

GPS, GSM, Bluetooth, RFID or Wi‑Fi technology.

As well as the battery type

Also to note that TSA doesn’t have any say over anything outside the US and my original post relates to Emirates although other airlines have similar restrictions.
 
Are we confusing Lithium batteries with Lithium ION batteries here?

Lithium batteries cannot be recharged and they don’t explode (thermal runaway) like Lithium Ion can, which is what you see on the news about hoverboards or cell phones catching fire.
 
SlipSlidinAwa said:
I just checked they are Lithium.

I think IATA rules allow 0.3g Lithium and these are less than that. Have been trying to find out. In most countries I understand airlines cannot override IATA rules.
Click to expand...
It’s not just the batteries it’s the connectivity
 
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www.iata.org

SMART Bags

This page explains what a SMART bag is.
www.iata.org www.iata.org

There is a section specifically dealing with trackers

Looks like batteries would need to be removed or the tracker shut down when it’s inside an aircraft.
 
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